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Truth Aficionado
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Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
| Posted 9/23/2008 9:36 AM (GMT -6) |   | |
The phrase, "It's the economy, stupid", was coined by Clinton’s 1992 campaign strategist James Carville. George H.W. Bush was considered unbeatable because of all the foreign policy issues at the time, that is until the focus turned to the economy…the rest is history.
Well déjà vu, It looks like the economy is once again taking front & center stage here in the 2008 presidential campaign.
The way I look at it, our current economy is a thirsty parasite that has to be fed. We, as consumers, are encouraged to buy. Remember after 911, what did president Bush ask us to do, yes, go out and shop. Similar to a drug dealer who gives you your first hit free, the Federal economic stimulus package was aimed to put money in our hands so we would spend it, spending taste good, get hooked and to continue to spend more and more. Disposable goods are necessary, it becomes more convenient and cheaper to throw out the old and buy new again. The fiscal conservatives don’t really conserve anything, its drill baby drill, buy baby buy kind of world. And why not, the fiscal conservative’s umbilical cord is tied directly to corporate America that likes to sell baby sell. It’s capitalism at both its best and worst and like it or not, its spreading like a wildfire throughout the world.
Maybe there was a time that the federal government was for the people and by the people, you know, there to protect and serve. For the most part nowadays, the federal government business is business. That’s right, the feds are all about redistributing wealth. And this don’t necessarily mean the redistribution of America’s wealth to Americans. In fact, our wealth is being transferred overseas faster then we can say piggy bank with lipstick.
So if you are one that ascribes to the notion that America was founded on Christian precepts and values then let’s take a look at an historical account from the Bible.
King Rehoboam sought advice from the older leaders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive. He asked, “What do you advise? How should I respond to these people?” 7 They told him, “If you will serve these people today, humble yourself, and speak gently, then they will always be your servants.” 8 But he ignored the advice the older leaders gave him. He sought advice from the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we respond to these people who are asking me to lighten the burden my father put on them?” 10 The young men who had grown up with him answered, “This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is heavier than my father's whole body. 11 If my father put a heavy burden on you, I will add to it. If my father punished you with whips, I will punish you with scorpions.'” - 1 Kings 12:6-11
The question is, who is going to pay for this one trillion dollar wall street bailout? Who will carry the brunt of this heavy burden? Is this more trickledown economics philosophy, or a whips and scorpions bleed up economics policy, or both?
A curious Christian would like to know. | | Back to Top | | |
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Truth Aficionado
Registered Member
Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
| Posted 9/23/2008 9:42 AM (GMT -6) | | |
What Are the Origins of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae?
The Predators’ Ball
"Spokesmen for Fannie and Freddie say they've sought to work with states, not override them, and they have often backed consumer-friendly new rules, such as one banning unnecessary credit insurance. Late last month President George W. Bush signed a law that created a new regulator for Fannie and Freddie called the Federal Housing Finance Agency. But that law also offered Fannie and Freddie multibillion-dollar bailouts at taxpayer expense, with no demand for internal reform, critics say. Former Treasury secretary Larry Summers argues that we're missing a "once in a generation opportunity" to reform Fannie and Freddie, which wield enormous lobbying power in Washington and on Wall Street."
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEOs to get golden parachutes
"Shareholders in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw the value of their stock nearly disappear Monday after the mortgage giants had been taken over by the federal government, but the companies' chief executives will leave after banking millions and taking millions more on the way out the door."
Few Stand to Gain on This Bailout, and Many Lose Over the years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac showered riches on many winners: their executives, Wall Street bankers and Washington lobbyists. Now the foundering mortgage giants are leaving some losers in their wake, notably their shareholders, rank-and-file employees and, in the worst case, American taxpayers.
Post Edited (Truth Aficionado) : 9/23/2008 9:55:43 AM (GMT-5) | | Back to Top | | |
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Truth Aficionado
Registered Member
Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
| Posted 9/23/2008 10:02 AM (GMT -6) | | | | |
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Truth Aficionado
Registered Member
Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
| Posted 9/23/2008 11:03 AM (GMT -6) | | |
Obama Calls on the Bush Administration to Guarantee Taxpayers Do Not Pay Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEO Severance Packages. 9/9/2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today sent the following letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart, calling on them to address news reports that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEOs will receive millions of dollars in severance packages even as they are removed from their posts. When Congress originally approved the authority for the Treasury Department to step in and rescue these companies this summer, it explicitly included a provision that gave the new regulator the authority to block golden parachute payments to CEOs. As the Bush Administration now takes unprecedented steps to rescue these companies with taxpayer dollars, it would be highly inappropriate and a violation of the public trust to allow windfall CEO severance pay packages.
In the letter, Senator Obama calls on the Administration to provide him with the steps being taken to ensure that these companies fulfill their important missions without wasting taxpayer dollars or rewarding poor leadership.
The text of the letter is below:
Dear Secretary Paulson and Director Lockhart,
News reports indicate that the chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will stand to reap millions of dollars in severance payments when they are removed from their posts. Under no circumstances should the executives of these institutions earn a windfall at a time when the U.S. Treasury has taken unprecedented steps to rescue these companies with taxpayer resources. I urge you immediately to clarify that the agreement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac voids any such inappropriate windfall payments to outgoing CEOs and senior management.
When Congress granted the Department of the Treasury the authority to step in and rescue Fannie and Freddie, we explicitly included a provision that gave the new regulator the authority to block "any" payments made to CEOs that were "contingent on the termination" of their affiliation with the organization. It would be a gross violation of the public trust to fail to use this authority now, while American taxpayers and American homeowners, already struggling in a weak economy, are being asked to accept an historic intervention to rescue these institutions.
I recognize that intervention is necessary to maintain liquidity for the housing market so that homeowners can continue to get affordable mortgages and homes can be bought and sold in neighborhoods across the country. Yet one of the central requirements that I have consistently set in evaluating any intervention under this new legislation is that such action protect taxpayers and not bail out senior management from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Multi-million dollar severance payments for the executives who helped steer these institutions into the current crisis situation would violate the spirit of the authority granted by Congress to the Treasury Department and would violate the public's trust.
I understand that details of the agreement are still being worked out. Please let me know right away what steps are being taken to ensure that the agreement is responsible and that Fannie and Freddie can continue to fulfill their important missions without wasting taxpayer dollars or rewarding poor leadership. The American people are watching and have put their trust in us to look out for their interests.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
*******************
Not the first time, as we see below:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/05/30/obama-asks-dodd-to-hold-hearing-on-ceo-pay/
May 30, 2007, 6:53 pm
Obama Asks Dodd to Hold Hearing on CEO Pay
Kara Scannell reports on Sen. Barack Obama’s interest in CEO pay.
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama sent a letter today asking Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, a rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, to hold a hearing on executive pay Post Edited (Truth Aficionado) : 9/23/2008 11:06:21 AM (GMT-5) | | Back to Top | | |
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Truth Aficionado
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Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
| Posted 9/23/2008 2:57 PM (GMT -6) | |
One Love said......accountability...
Now the decry of accountability, oversight and regulations can be heard on all political fronts. Perhaps tough love on the corporate level is in order. If the government continues to bail out investment firms, what will be their incentive to practice sound ethical behavior?
Just like a forest, sometimes it needs to burn to become healthy again, I say, let Wall Street burn…burn baby burn.
Let ‘em burn Post Edited (Truth Aficionado) : 9/23/2008 3:08:38 PM (GMT-5) | | Back to Top | | |
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Truth Aficionado
Registered Member
Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
| Posted 9/23/2008 10:27 PM (GMT -6) | | |
Two reports tonight, one from the New York Times, and the other from Newsweek, contradict John McCain's earlier statement that his campaign manager Rick Davis had no involvement with mortgage giant Freddie Mac, one of the companies at the heart of the current financial crisis, for the last several years. The Times reports:
One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain's campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month...
I wonder when McCain Will Lose His Head Again Post Edited (Truth Aficionado) : 9/23/2008 10:39:26 PM (GMT-5) | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 9/23/2008 10:56 PM (GMT -6) | | Wow.
From the above article...
One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain's campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by Mr. McCain that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had no involvement with the company for the last several years. Mr. Davis's firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said...
...On Sunday, in an interview with CNBC and The New York Times, Mr. McCain responded to a question about Mr. Davis's role in the advocacy group through 2005 by saying that his campaign manager "has had nothing to do with it since, and I'll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it."
and...
But neither the Times story -- nor the McCain campaign -- revealed that Davis's firm, the Washington, D.C. based lobbying firm Davis Manafort, continued to receive $15,000 a month from Freddie Mac until last month-long after the Homeownership Alliance had been terminated. The two sources, who requested anonymity discussing sensitive information, told Newsweek that Davis himself approached Freddie Mac in 2006 and asked for a new consulting arrangement that would allow his firm to continue to be paid. The arrangement was approved by Hollis McLoughlin, Freddie Mac's vice president for external relations, because "he [Davis] was John McCain's campaign manager and it was felt you couldn't say no," said one of the sources. [McLoughlin did not return phone calls].
Sigh...
"The strong and demonstrated tendency to falsify even easily researchable facts for their own political ambition and gain...without taking responsibility (refusing to "own up" ) to the falsification when the falsification has been recognized by others."
This is a friggin' travesty. For real.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
"I love, therefore I am in I Am." | | Back to Top | | |
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Truth Aficionado
Registered Member
Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
| Posted 9/25/2008 12:41 PM (GMT -6) | | | | |
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Truth Aficionado
Registered Member
Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
| Posted 9/26/2008 2:51 PM (GMT -6) | |
One Love said...
"The strong and demonstrated tendency to falsify even easily researchable facts for their own political ambition and gain...without taking responsibility (refusing to "own up" ) to the falsification when the falsification has been recognized by others."
This is a friggin' travesty. For real.
D,
Let’s not focus to much on the “dirty hands” of the thief caught in the cookie jar and miss the systemic gravity of the crime. The number of cookies stolen through this rampant culture of corruption, running wild in Freddie and Fannie (and others), will cost the American Taxpayers over a trillion dollars. IOW, entire cookie factories are being ripped off.
Both Obama and McCain appear to be ok with bailing out Wal Street. Sure they both place conditions to the bailout, so what, throw us a bone. No! No! Throw those SOB’s in jail where they can post a bailout of their own.
Post Edited (Truth Aficionado) : 9/26/2008 3:04:59 PM (GMT-5) | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 9/26/2008 3:03 PM (GMT -6) | | T.A.:
Let’s not focus to much on the “dirty hands” of the thief caught in the cookie jar and miss the systemic gravity of the crime. The number of cookies stolen through the rampant culture of corruption than runs wild in Freddie and Fannie (and others) will cost the American Taxpayers over a trillion dollars. IOW, entire cookie factories are being ripped off.
I completely agree with the importance of the systemic element. For sure. It just amazes me (really) how much overt and, frankly, brazen lying on easily falsifiable stuff that's going on by a presidential candidate. Of course, politicians lie. But I've never seen something like this...at least in my brief lifetime. Not this bold..and not this consistently crazy. It really IS amazing to me.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
"I love, therefore I am in I Am." Post Edited (One Love) : 9/26/2008 3:06:04 PM (GMT-5) | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 9/26/2008 3:10 PM (GMT -6) | | Well, the elections that I remember somewhat (Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, etc) I really just don't remember this much OUTRIGHT lying by a presidential candidate over things so EASILY falsifiable. Seriously. Maybe I just wasn't looking good enough...but I don't remember this.
According to some political analysts, neither had they.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
"I love, therefore I am in I Am." | | Back to Top | | |
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Truth Aficionado
Registered Member
Date Joined Dec 2003
Total Posts : 1544
| Posted 9/26/2008 3:18 PM (GMT -6) | |
One Love said...
I completely agree with the importance of the systemic element. For sure. It just amazes me (really) how much overt and, frankly, brazen lying on easily falsifiable stuff that's going on by a presidential candidate. Of course, politicians lie. But I've never seen something like this...at least in my brief lifetime. Not this bold..and not this consistently crazy. It really IS amazing to me.
Right, but it’s not just politicians, it’s an entire culture of corruption.
We all have to be accountable and take responsibility for the avarice sin that put us in this mess. Let's not forget, we got into this mess by borrowing money we could not pay back, we as individuals and collectively as a country. We can’t borrow more money to bail out, it's irresponsible borrowing that got us into this mess. We need to suffer the consequences now, or pay worse consequences in the future. Borrowing more money is a smoke and mirror, temporal solution, that fuels the flames of this madness. If anything, invest in people, technology, energy and infrastructure, things that creates jobs and innovation.
What happed to the old American ethic of an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work? Post Edited (Truth Aficionado) : 9/26/2008 3:23:33 PM (GMT-5) | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 9/26/2008 3:29 PM (GMT -6) | | T.A.:
Right, but it’s not just politicians, it’s an entire culture of corruption.
We all have to be accountable and take responsibility for the avarice sin that put us in this mess. Let's not forget, we got into this mess by borrowing money we could not pay back, we as individuals and collectively as a country. We can’t borrow more money to bail out, it's irresponsible borrowing that got us into this mess. We need to suffer the consequences now, or pay worse consequences in the future. Borrowing more money is a smoke and mirror, temporal solution, that fuels the flames of this madness. If anything, invest in people, technology, energy and infrastructure, things that creates jobs and innovation.
What happed to the old American ethic of an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work?
I'm with you, man. For real. I've had to face my own irresponsible choices with my own credit card issues (stemming from my undergrad days). And the corruption and greed that our society welcomes as "values" don't make healthy discernment any easier. Heaven help us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
"I love, therefore I am in I Am." | | Back to Top | | |
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